If trust were a currency, America would be in the red with no sign of recovery; America would go from a wealthy nation known for innovation, to an impecunious country incapable of survival.
The institutions upon which America operates – the police, the press and the politics: City Halls, State Legislatures, District Attorneys’ and Governors’ Offices, Congress, the Senate and the White House – all suffer, at varying levels, from a trust deficit; not enough social capital seems to exist in this moment for the Government or the Fourth Estate to effectively unify the country, which some say, particularly on the issue of race, is more divided than ever before.
America’s trust deficit didn’t materialize as a result of the #DNCLeak – a breach of the Democratic National Committee’s server which revealed nearly 20,000 emails that prove wrong-doing and an unethical collusion with the Fourth Estate – but rather it has existed for as a long as American police officers have killed unarmed citizens absent of scrutiny and with impunity; for as long as the news media has been duplicitous; and for as long as politicians have forgone morals and humanity in the pursuit of power.
Mrs. Hillary Clinton, who shared top secret emails with three of her aides, meets with a supporter in Philadelphia, the City hosting the Democratic National Convention. Photo Credit: C. Norris – ©2016
The #DNCLeak and the happenings in its aftermath – Mrs. Clinton in a tone deaf move on Sunday recruited onto her campaign the disgraced Mrs. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who, when her favoritism for the former Secretary of State and resentment for Mr. Bernie Sanders was made public, resigned as Chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee – has amplified the conversation of trust, and America’s shortage of it.
But instead of embracing this moment, and the lessons to be learned from it, the political class is rushing to move on and, for the sake of the country, stop Mr. Donald Trump, the controversial Republican presidential nominee who has often reiterated the extent to which democracy is rigged, from being elected President of the United States of America.
This morning during a segment on CNN – who’s broadcasting from the South Philadelphia arena that’s hosting the Democratic National Convention – Mr. Sanders’ campaign manager Mr. Jeff Weaver, who for a while had known, but couldn’t prove, the DNC’s favoritism of Mrs. Clinton, said it’s time to go forward and “elect Hillary Clinton and defeat Donald Trump.”
Seated next to Mr. Weaver was the former Governor of Michigan, Ms. Jennifer Graham, who characterized the #DNCLeak as a “kerfuffle” that’ll soon blow over.
The reckless indifference shown for the #DNCLeak by Mr. Weaver, Ms. Graham, Mrs. Clinton, President Barack Obama et al., is indicative of the proverbial double-standard: America is a country of laws, but the laws not need apply to everyone, only the laymen; cops can break the laws while enforcing them; politicians can ignore the laws while writing them; but citizens, in some neighborhoods, can’t even drive with a broken taillight or jay-walk without fear of sometimes fatal repercussions.
Mr. Ed Rendell is the former Mayor of Philadelphia, the former Governor of Pennsylvania, and the current Chairman of the DNC Host Committee. Photo Credit: C. Norris – ©2016
In the City where democracy was born, the Democrats should take to the stage, one after another, and condemn the contents of the #DNCLeak as something that’s opposite of the country’s values. But that act of class and nobility seems beyond anything this current crop of politicos are willing to attempt; and they’re silence and reckless indifference does, indeed, suggest approval; and it is this sort of candidate-over-country-bullshit that validates Mr. Trump, who’s leading Mrs. Clinton in the latest CNN/ORC poll, and his anti-establishment sentiment.
Preventing the election of Mr. Trump to the Office of the President – though important, as he is grossly unqualified for the job – shouldn’t take priority over halting the type of malfeasance that makes it harder to sell the idea of democracy. There’s simply no excuse for the way Ms. Wasserman Schultz and her subordinates conducted themselves in office, and the platitudes from peers regarding her resignation, instead of stone-cold condemnation, sends the wrong message to voters; it says: corruption doesn’t bother us as much as you’d think it does, and the ends justify the means.
With behavior like the aforementioned, America will never climb out of its trust deficit; it will only sink further into debt until it’s not a country at all but rather a haven for anarchists whose respect for the law mirrors that of their past oppressors.
Thanks for reading. Until next time, I’m Flood the Drummer® & I’m Drumming for JUSTICE!™
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Photo courtesy of the author.